Carlos Correa recently got signed to a massive 13-year deal worth $350 million with the Giants, which could make it more difficult for the Red Sox to secure Rafael Devers.
The Boston Red Sox continuously fail to lock down their homegrown talent, most recently losing Xander Bogaerts to free agency. Rafael Devers and Bogaerts had a bond, and now that Bogaerts has walked, it’s expected that Devers is going to make it much harder for the Red Sox to extend him.
The free agent market this offseason could strongly influence what Devers asks for in an extension, and after seeing Carlos Correa sign a 13-year deal worth $350 million with the San Francisco Giants, it’d only make sense that Devers will raise his asking price.
In all fairness, Devers has enough talent and influence on the Red Sox that he shouldn’t settle for less than what he’s worth. If he can make significantly more on the market, then he should push for his own team to pay him that much.
However, this is bad news for the Red Sox as they continue on a downward spiral.
Red Sox could be in major trouble if they don’t act fast on Rafael Devers
If the Red Sox were wise, they’d learn from their past mistakes and offer Devers what he’s worth, and soon. However, history has proven that they’re more likely to repeat their mistakes. Within the past five years alone, they’ve made the same mistake of not extending Mookie Betts or Bogaerts.
There’s no reason they shouldn’t sign Devers, either. He was one of only two players on the team this past season to be nominated for a Silver Slugger award, which former teammate Bogaerts ended up earning. He led several batting stats in Boston, including home runs (27), RBIs (88), slugging percentage (.521) and OPS (.879). He tied with Bogaerts for most runs (84), and Bogaerts slightly led most stats that Devers didn’t.
There wasn’t much going for the team this season as they finished last in the AL East, the only team below .500 and completely missed the playoffs. However, Bogaerts and Devers deserve a lot of credit for any limited success the team did have. They failed to make Bogaerts a worthy offer before he entertained free agency, and Devers will go down the same path if Boston doesn’t act fast on him.
The market is only getting more and more competitive with insanely high contracts going out, which is bound to raise Devers’ expectations.